EDITORIAL: BISD board of managers finally offers hope

By Enterprise editorial staff

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The governing board of the Beaumont ISD met Monday, something that has happened many times over the years. This time, however, it was markedly different. This wasn't an elected board of trustees; it was an appointed board of managers. And it was the most encouraging thing that has happened in the district in a long time.

The managers' first act was to fire Superintendent Timothy Chargois for good cause. If a single issue could illustrate the failings of the board of trustees, it would be its failure to take this step.

Chargois' role was similar to that of a CEO of a large corporation. It's not just that bad luck happened on his watch. Problems occurred specifically because the superintendent wasn't a strong, demanding leader. Massive embezzlement went undetected, accounts weren't balanced regularly, if at all. Those operational and professional failings are inexcusable. In the private sector, there isn't a board of directors in the country that would tolerate such behavior from its CEO.

If Chargois truly cares about the children of Beaumont, he will not cause any more tax dollars designed for education to be diverted from them. He will agree to a face-saving settlement and move on instead of extending the bitterness with a nasty legal battle.

The board of managers has many other tasks to handle, chief among them figuring out how much money the district has so it can plan the BISD's budget for the next school year. Again, if the trustees hadn't wasted so much time and money on pointless appeals of the state takeover, the managers would have been better positioned for this challenge.

While we believe that most Beaumont residents welcomed the managers, we realize that some didn't. Like it or not, this is the new reality. All taxpayers should give the managers a fair chance to re-order the district's finances and priorities.

Considering the assets and experience of these six men and one woman, we believe that all Beaumonters will like what they see in coming months.